The present invention relates to the access to zones with controlled access in which a contactless access support is used in a controlled zone, and relates particularly to a disposable contactless ticket and its manufacturing process.
The access media providing access to zones with controlled access in public transport networks such as the French RATP subway or SNCF railway networks increasingly use xe2x80x9ccontactlessxe2x80x9d techniques as opposed to standard contact-type media. The latter must be inserted into a ticket reader to make the contact enabling the validity of the support to be checked. Over time, the ticket reader""s brushes become dirty resulting in a lack of contact which requires the user to execute the operation several times, resulting in a significant loss of time.
The exchange of information between a contactless medium and the ticket reader is generally accomplished by remote electromagnetic coupling between the first antenna provided within the contactless medium and a second antenna located in the ticket reader. Furthermore, the support is equipped with an electronic module featuring the first antenna connected to a semi-conducting disk or chip which contains, among other components, a radio-frequency (RF) part, a memory in which the information to be provided to the ticket reader is stored and the logical functions required to compile the information to be transmitted and to process the information received.
There are, in fact, two groups of transport network users, the permanent users and the occasional users. For the first group, the ISO format contactless smart card is the best solution insofar as the cost of the card distributed over the total number of trips made over a long period of time will always remain low for the user. But the cost of the card becomes excessive in relation to the cost of the trip for the second group made up of occasional users who would be required to buy a card for a single trip.
This is why one of the objects of the invention is to supply a medium providing access to a controlled access zone, such as a public transport network, in the form of a disposable ticket which is highly biodegradable and very inexpensive although featuring the same functionality as a contactless access card despite the small dimensions.
A second object of the invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a disposable contactless access ticket having the same functionality as a contactless access card despite the small dimensions.
The invention relates therefore to a ticket providing access to a zone with controlled access when it is presented without contact in front of a ticket reader authorizing access to the zone, said ticket having an Edmonson format and comprising a paper ticket body covered on both surfaces with a protective coating. The paper ticket body is provided with a through-hole wherein is an electric module comprising an integrated circuit and an antenna. The latter is formed by at least one turn obtained by screen printing with silvery powder in a polymerisable composition before being heat-cured.
Another object of the invention is a process for manufacturing contactless tickets consisting in preparing a paper strip or multi-band having a width corresponding to several ticket widths, to make the holes in the band designed to receive the electronic ticket modules, slice the band into several single strips, each corresponding to a reel of tickets, and consecutively placing on both sides, the first layer of protective coating then the second layer of protective coating after having installed the electronic modules in the holes.
According to a characteristic of the invention, an overlay having the same thickness as the integrated circuit and featuring a through-hole at the location of the integrated circuit is placed on the electronic module, and the electronic module covered by the overlay is hot-laminated to reduce the resistance of the antenna.